Marines Offer Brutally Honest Insight On Military Rape Culture

The military has long been scrutinized by the media for the
way it deals with sexual assault. I talked to
active-duty male Marines about the accusation of
tolerating sexual predators in their ranks, and to get
their inside perspective on allegations of rape in the
military.

The opposing views on how victims’ claims are managed were played
out recently on national
television with the story of eight military women filing
a lawsuit against Navy and Marine Corps leadership for allegedly
failing them.

The Associated Press reported that the women allege they were
raped and harassed, and are accusing the military of having a
"high tolerance for sexual predators in their ranks" while
fostering an environment that discourages victims of sexual
assault from coming forward.

The Marine Corps released
a statement providing evidence for challenging the
women's claims, as well as challenging the news reports
suggesting the military doesn't take the subject of sexual
assault seriously.

The Marines who talked to me revealed an honest picture of a
culture frustratingly reported in the news from the outside.

Fear of "the rape card"

"Right now the attitude of guys is to be extremely cautious with
girls because they are afraid of them pulling the 'rape card,'"
said one Marine. "The military will never say this happens,
because they will run off of statistics of court martial
convictions. The military has no way of knowing who actually was
raped."

Why would someone pull the "rape card"?

Attorneys Richard Stevens and Frank Spinner defend military
cases. Through their work
navigating the military justice system and defending the
accused, they've seen a number of motives for false rape claims:

"Guilt and confusion after a night of drinking. Avoiding a
boyfriend or husband’s reaction to unfaithfulness. Shielding
oneself from the consequences of one’s own misconduct. Protecting
one’s reputation from the 'promiscuous' label. Anger over a
sexual encounter not blossoming into a long term relationship as
expected," are listed in their
experience as court martial lawyers.

You can
look up military cases where alleged victims retracted their
stories, are exposed for lying, or apologized to the accused in
court. False claims not only put innocent people in a
damaging position, but they also offend true
victims.

The active-duty Marine continued, "A lot of people don't believe
women will do that, but they do. Of course, not all of them do
and, as with anywhere in society, rapes happen. And those
who are raped are offered probably the most decisive way of
bringing your rapist to justice the country has seen. All you
have to do is say it happened, and that Marine is taken to court
martial."

He said, She said

The Marines who spoke to me said the military court martial is a
place where he said-she said thrives. They feel accused men and
women are subject to a "guilty until proven innocent" prejudice.
You don't want to be in that position.

Furthermore, "Everyone sits through the mandatory training on
sexual harassment and assault, and the culture is that you don't
want to rock the boat by making a stink about sexual stuff."

Mandatory sexual assault briefings teach service members that if
alcohol is involved, consensual sex is impossible. That seems
over-cautious and could be the military's overcompensation for
not being aggressive enough about assault allegations in the
past. This rigid stance on alcohol as a bona fide determinant of
rape can lead to
questionable convictions.

One of the Marines confirmed, "Yes, it's true. If alcohol is
involved and the woman alleges a rape, its like an automatic
guilty for the guy. It's messed up, if both of them are
intoxicated it's still a rape if allegations are made."

Rush to judgement

There are many more males than females in the military, so
one Marine agrees that there is a level of discrimination because
this used to be an all-boys gun club. He admits though, that
since he enlisted in the Corps, many women give credence to the
stereotype of females in the military being "loose" and "slutty"
because of their actions. That's a rough image to shake.

It will be interesting to see how this week's lawsuit fares
in the future. And it's worth noting that a lawsuit
is a civil action, meaning a financial settlement is typically
sought.

The Marine told me the general consensus at his workplace was
that rape is a criminal offense and it's a big deal for a victim
to face her assailant in court. But with regard to this civil
lawsuit, he too wonders how it will be resolved:

"Honestly it's a tough one, I wish they would keep rape in a
criminal court and not civil. I don't believe people's initial
motives if there is money involved."